WBS Grand Championships Report from Los Suenos

[sportfishingusa]

SWAMI YOU ARE THE MOTHER F-ING MAN BRO!! THANKS FOR BRINGING US THIS ACTION FOR THE OTHER SIDE!!!!!


really do appreciate it especially since plenty of our own from nj and pa are over there!!

thanks again man!!

[Robja]

Nice report Swami. Scot Rickert won this tournament a couple of years ago didn't he? He does't seem to be doing to well.
Pino you keep posting these pics makes me want to go back to Los Suenos and Jaco. Last time i was there we had some good fresh tuna on the boat sitting at the dock.

[Sterling]

Just saw another CMMTC member, Matt Traber with the release out of the gate. Nice work! Many of you probably know Matt from his Commercial Water Sports Parasail business or his line of Ocean Pro boats.

Don't let your had get too cold on the frozen drinks today.

Forecast for Cape May
Today
Dec 5

Mostly Sunny
41°F
26°F

Get it on!

[Swami]

SportfishingUSA, it's a tough job but ya know, somebody's gotta do it! Just wish I was out on the water and not sitting here recording other people's releases.

Robja: Yes, my buddy Scott Rickert won this event several years ago when we were fishing out of Cabo San Lucas--he brought his own ballyhoo over from Florida and really cleaned everyone's clock fishing naked hoos for those striped marlin over there. Since then, he's logged plenty of time fishing out of Los Suenos but his team can never seem to put it all together come tournament time. Plus he married a stunningly beautiful Tica so I'm sure that's also been a bit of a distraction

As of a little after 10:30 our time, Pat Logue from the 1st Strike has moved into the lead with a marlin release and 1000 points, but Mainor Oporto from the Dragin Fly is hot on his tail with 1000 points (behind on time). Larry Drivon still has his 900 points from yesterday but has been quiet so far this morning to stay in third place. Jim Vaughan from the Reel Screamer just let go a sailfish to stay in fourth with 800 points. There are three anglers in fifth place with 700 points: Artie Kontos, Chris Domel and Bill Easum, in order. There's also a knot of people at the 600 and 500 point mark so a marlin or a handful of sails could really help them move up.

We had 13 releases in the 9 o'clock hour including two marlin (with another one lost), so that's been the highlight of the day as far as the bite's been concerned. It's still the tail-end of the rainy season here but the showers have been short-lived for the most part each day with plenty of sunshine and 80 degree temps the rule (sorry for you guys up north, just had to toss that weather report in for good measure).

More to follow from Los Suenos, and once again thanks to Pino for posting some pics for us. We'll have our camera guy on the chase boat tomorrow for the top five and hope to post up some good action stuff tomorrow night.

Radio control, standing by...

[Swami]

Here's the noon update:

Mainor Oporto/Dragin Fly: 1200 points
Pat Logue/1st Strike: 1000 points
Larry Drivon/Dragin Fly: 900 points
Artie Kontos/Let It Ride: 900 points
Jim Vaughan/Reel Screamer: 800 points
Chris Domel/Adios: 700 points
Chris Wood/Miss Behavin: 700 points
James Kontos/Tuna Bite: 600 points
Bill Easum/Super Fly: 600 points
Erik Walden/The Bite: 600 points
Jimmy Taylor/Super Fly: 600 points
Greg Voell/Adios: 600 point
Peter Cherasia/Miss Behavin: 600 points
Scooter Porto/Pescadora: 500 points
Bob Del Vecchio/Desperado: 500 points
Chris Lepping/Penguin: 500 points
Sari Turner/Penguin: 500 points
Matt Traber/Uno Mas: 500 points

The rest of the fleet is at 400 points and below. Both Andy and Tim have one sailfish each today.

[sportfishingusa]

HEY SWAMI,

who gets to pick where they fish!? i mean for someone to get 6 sails on one side of the boat and another guy on another boat get 1 for the day it seems like they just are not finding the fish..

do they have specific areas or is it up to the captains!?

[Squidnation]

HEY SWAMI,

who gets to pick where they fish!? i mean for someone to get 6 sails on one side of the boat and another guy on another boat get 1 for the day it seems like they just are not finding the fish..

do they have specific areas or is it up to the captains!?

As far as it goes on the boat - the anglers rotate every hour. Once a fish is hooked by either angler then the other angler has up to a minute to hook a fish. Once the stop watch reaches 1 minute the the lines must be pulled. The angler who hooked a fish can also hook another fish by placing the hooked rod in the rod holder and hook another fish on his/her side of the boat. If both anglers are hooked up then the angler who hooked the fish first has control of the boat. In other words he gets to tell the captain what to do in order to land there fish without regard to the other angler's fish. The anglers must also respect the side of the boat that they are on. In other words if two fish are raised on one side then that angler gets to try and hook those two fish without having the other angler come to the other side to hook a fish.

I have fished this tournament twice - once with andy and once with tim and we never had had any instance where another angler did anything unsportsman like. It is truly a great format that tests the angler.

last yr I rode with tim on the his final day fish off. In that case there is one angler per boat with a maximum of three rods and a pitch bait. Sounds like a dream come true until you see seven dorsal fins pop up behind the boat.

As far as where to fish - Most of these guys leave it up to the captains to decide where to fish. . Last year during the finals all the boats fished the same patch of water. It was extremely exciting.

[sportfishingusa]

thanks for all the insight bill.. seems like it could be very very interesting.. got to look into maybe signing up for this and if funds allow getting into some tourneys around the area and trying to get some points on the board to make it down there.. could not imagine having that many dorsals and sail come flying thru the spread at one time.!!

wow that must be one freaking pant pooping episode!! lol

once again thanks for all that bill!! really a awesome format like you said!

[knot for shore]

G. DAMN!!!! THAT'S SOME BOAT **** RIGHT THERE!! I've got to get there before I die!

Post up some more pics please.

[Swami]

Hey guys, sorry I didn't have a chance to post a more recent update but between running the radio and scorekeeping I was pretty damn busy.

The question about picking the spot is a good one. Normally the anglers will defer to the captain when it comes to whether to turn left or right.

The bite picked up all afternoon--the fleet ended up releasing another 108 billfish (including three marlin) today alone. Not bad for 32 anglers and 16 boats. This topped yesterday's totals of 90 billfish including six marlin. That's 198 billfish in two days, and every angler in attendance released at least one in the tournament. No blacks this year that I know of but a pretty even mix of stripeys and rat blues.

The top five anglers will fish tomorrow in the finals, one angler per boat with up to three lines and four teasers in the water--as Bill said above, it can get real exciting, real quick when the sails show up in packs in the mood to eat. One captain nicknamed his angler "Pinball" last year as the poor guy bounced back and forth trying to hook and land multiple fish all day long. And no, it wasn't Tim.

The top five look like this. Keep in mind that the scores reset tomorrow so everyone starts at zero and goes from there:

Mainor Oporto/Costa Rica/Dragin Fly: 1800 points (15 sails and one marlin in two days)

Pat Logue/Cape Coral, FL/1st Strike: 1400 points (6 sails and two marlin, had a grand slam yesterday)

Larry Drivon/Napa Valley, CA/Dragin Fly: 1300 points (9 sails and one marlin)

Bill Easum/Port Aransas, TX/Super Fly: 1100 points (11 sails)

Jim Vaughan/Lake Wales, FL/Reel Screamer: 1100 points (11 sails)

The finals came right down to the wire with Jim on the Reel Screamer releasing their last fish by the very narrowest of margins.

One of these anglers will be driving off in a new Mercedes by this time tomorrow evening so thanks for checking in and stay tuned.

PS: More boat **** to follow. I just want to get home to a decent connection so I don't have to keep sending them to Bill to post for us--thanks mucho Bill!!